And Justice For All
by Infernokota
Summary: Azuki Uchiha; Legend- Traitor. Supaida; Revolutionary- Madman. Naga Obunobu; Survivor- Monster. History is altered by legends, and legends lay with the storytellers. Three men make their marks on the world, altering it to their own wills- for history is written by the victors. Starts in Sannin Era. OC Based. Slight AU down the line. [Temporary Hiatus]
1. Azuki: Leader, Father, Husband

**Disclaimer: I don't own squat. Naruto belongs to the terrible and hated one, Kishimoto.**

 **Volume 1: Azuki**

 **Chapter 1: Leader, Father, Sannin**

* * *

Madara Uchiha was not an idle man.

He unified his clans. Alongside an old friend, he'd founded the first Great Ninja Village, Konohagakure- the Village Hidden in the Leaves (his idea, mind). He'd brought the majority of the country's clans to join the village.

Madara Uchiha was not an idle man.

When Madara needed something to get done, he did it. He always walked with purpose; swiftly, no matter if it was to the meeting hall, the Hokage's tower, the armory, or even simply to the clan compound's river- or, to the clan infirmary.

Madara Uchiha was not an idle man.

That was what he kept reminding himself, pride screaming in vain in his mind. He kept reminding himself even as he slowly, hesitantly made his way to the clan's infirmary, a woman's screams of pain splitting the air. He repeated it over and over like a mantra _dedicated_ to his pride even as he stilled outside the sliding door, hand hovering above the handle. He scowled- but waited. A few minutes later, the screams stopped, and a small cheer echoed out of the room.

Madara Uchiha was idling.

He sighed to himself and finally threw the door open with an air of finality, stepping into the infirmary. The swift motion made the medics and midwife jump in shock. His son turned to him, and they gave a smattering of shallow bows, a chorus of 'Lord Madara's greeting him. He simply nodded in return, but didn't move past the threshold.

Yokan, for her part, simply offered him a small, tired smile, closing her eyes as she did. She was the splitting image of a kunoichi; fair, beautiful, and a deep scar lining her jaw from her ear to her chin, black hair pulled into a bun and out of her face. Madara managed a microsmile for a second in return, before hesitantly making his way into the room. Yokan didn't drop her own smile. "He's not going to bite." She said tiredly, decorum long forgotten.

The clan head stopped by her bed, next to Obito, and stared at the babe swaddled in cloth in her arms. "Is..."

"Azuki." Obito said, a proud smirk on his face. "Azuki Uchiha." The man was lither than Madara was, and shorter, but his skin was just as pale and his hair just as dark, falling down to chin length, framing his face.

Madara's face was schooled into the textbook Uchiha indifference.

"You can hold him." Yokan offered as Obito wiped a soaked strand of hair from her face.

Again, hesitantly, Madara took Azuki, staring down at his grandson. The newborn was a bright red in color and was sleeping peacefully.

"I don't even think he was this shellshocked when you were born." Yokan offered in good humor.

Obito stared at his father and son with a slight smile. "He wasn't _there_ when I was born."

Madara didn't draw his eyes from the child before slowly, hesitantly, handing him back to his mother. Madara nodded at her and simply set a hand on Obito's shoulder before walking out of the room.

* * *

Hashirama cackled.

Madara stared at his old friend from over the shogi board, onyx eyes narrowed.

"Let me guess," The First Hokage said sarcastically. "You were afraid to even hold him."

"I absolutely was not," The Uchiha growled back, scowling at his comrade. That simply made the Senju burst into further laughter, straight dark hair falling around his tan face carelessly. Madara moved a piece. "This game is mine."

Hashirama's laughter tapered off and he waved his hand in front of his face. "I don't really care that's just- that's... the great Madara Uchiha. Struck fearless by a newborn babe."

"And you weren't any less so at Tsunade's birth?" Madara shot back with a withering glare.

"Please, old friend, I was crying. But you- _you_ who absolutely hate people... absolutely in awe of your grandson. That is just... absolutely unbelievable."

"I do not hate people."

"Ah, I suppose he _is_ Uchiha. Eh- what did they name him?"

Now Madara was staring indifferently at the Hokage. "...Azuki."

Hashirama raised an eyebrow. "Azuki... isn't that a-"

"A bean, yes. My son apparently thinks he's comical."

The Hokage snickered rather unceremoniously. "And pray tell, what do you intend for the boy?"

"That's not-"

"Oh don't try to pull one over on me. You've already gotten his entire trajectory in life planned, your grandson or not. Future Hokage, perhaps?"

Madara's face soured and Hashirama inwardly winced, regretting the words. "As if this village would allow it."

The Senju sighed. "It will get better, old friend. I have faith. The Uchiha's contributions and sacrifices will get rewarded. If I have my way, you'll be Second Hokage before _one of us_ croaks. I was never one for this leadership thing anyways."

The Uchiha rose to his feet, preparing to leave. "This village's council will make sure you don't have your way, nonetheless your brother. Lord Hokage." And with that, he disappeared from the tower.

Hashirama sighed and buried his face in his hands.

* * *

 **-4 Years Later-**

Azuki stood silently, dressed in black robes as he stared at the graves, his onyx eyes not fully understanding what he was looking at. At his side, his sister, Kogira, was clutching him close to her, similarly dressed in black, rubbing a comforting hand through his split black-and-white hair as she herself cried.

The gathering was fairly small, in the Konoha graveyard; a larger service was planned later for the Uchiha's eyes alone, but this one served well for the friends and comrades outside the clan for the fallen shinobi.

Azuki's eyes couldn't read the writing on the gravestones, though he could certainly understand the voice of the orator. 'Yokan' and 'Obito' didn't miss his attention, though he still couldn't process the entire turn of events. The sun shone brightly overhead, birds tweeting through the trees surrounding the graveyard. Madara was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

Azuki sat quietly on his bed, staring at the mirror in his hand. It was his mother's. He simply stared at his reflection; a pale face, framed by spiky, shortcut, black and white hair, split unevenly down the middle. There was a knocking on the door, but he didn't look up.

"Azuki?" Kogira asked quietly. She was a few years older than him, and certainly seemed more broken up than he was, voice wavering even as she simply spoke his name. "Grandfather's here."

That finally drew the young Uchiha's attention up from the mirror, the heavy thudding of Madara's steps heralding the clan leader's arrival. The steps weren't very reminiscent of a ninja's gait, but Madara was more of a warrior than anything else.

The tall shinobi stepped in, dressed in black himself. He stilled in the doorframe, looking at his grandson quietly as Kogira left the room. The two Uchiha locked black eyes and seemed to come to an understanding. Madara stepped over to the bed, but didn't sit down.

"Your parents died bravely." He rumbled deeply, but quietly.

Azuki didn't answer, simply looking down at his sheets.

"They would have wanted you..." Madara trailed off. He wasn't good at this. Emoting wasn't a skill many Uchiha were particularly adept in, and his battle-hardened self perhaps the least of all. "Come." He beckoned.

Not needing to be told twice, Azuki somberly rose to his feet and followed after his grandfather through the halls of his home. They left the building and walked the short distance down the path to Madara's own, larger manor. Stepping in, the house was absolutely Spartan, with the exception of various battle instruments and scrolls lining the walls. Trophies of past conquests.

Madara sat down and unrolled a scroll, before handing one to Azuki, silently asking his grandson to do the same. Handing the child an inkpot and brush, Madara retrieved a set of his own; and began writing on the scroll.

"What are you doing?" Azuki finally asked quietly, watching his grandfather's slow, precise brush strokes.

"Working on a seal. Copy."

"A seal?" Azuki asked dipping the entire head of his brush in his ink.

Madara grabbed his grandson's wrist before he could begin writing. "Ah, ah, ah. Too much ink."

The child blinked and roughly tapped his brush against the edge of the inkpot, letting the excess liquid fall off.

"Now," The clan head said quietly. " _Careful_."

Azuki astutely put pen to paper, and began writing.

Madara was terrible at comforting and emoting. Training, however? That he could do very well.

* * *

Kogira lay a hand on Azuki's head as she passed by him, the child bent over a scroll, onyx eyes narrowed in concentration. Kogira was young, only ten or so, hair falling down around her shoulders in the trademark Uchiha black spikes, matching black eyes. Her skin was pale, though most of it was covered with her outfit; a dark blue low cut blouse with loose, hanging sleeves, over a black shirt, tucked into long, form-fitting pale light blue pants that extended past her waist to the bottom of her navel, a belt holding it firmly in place. Her hands were clad in black, fingerless gloves matching black, calf-high shinobi boots.

"Grandfather has you reading again?" She asked rhetorically, leaning over the back of the chair he was sat in.

"Yes." He said quietly, refusing to break his concentration.

"How long?"

"I dunno."

"Have you learned anything?"

"...I dunno."

"Could you read to me what it says?"

"The ca... cat... the cat s-says... m... m..." Azuki's face screwed up in distaste, and Kogira let out a laugh.

"You've been spending too much time with Grandfather." She said, rolling the scroll up, laughing again as the child reached for it in vain, pale skinned hands grasping, dark sleeves of his kimono falling to pool around his elbows..

"But I'm not dooone." He whined, though she knew that he wouldn't throw a tantrum. He was an Uchiha after all.

She sat down next to him, pushing him to the side of the chair. "But I said you are. Besides, staring at it isn't going to make it make sense. It takes time," Her eyes turned blood red, a black tomoe surrounding her pupil. "You don't have this yet." She flicked him in the forehead and pulled out a scroll from her jacket.

"What's that?" He asked quietly, past slight forgotten.

"Oh, this? This is my mission scroll. I just went on a C-Rank. Wanna hear how it went?"

Azuki nodded eagerly, black eyes wide as he stared at her.

Madara stared in from the doorway, regret filling his eyes. He inwardly sighed and walked away, glove clad hands clenching and unclenching. He hadn't been there for his son. Perhaps he could be a better father for his grandchildren? He owed Obito that much.

* * *

 **A/N: Alright, hello! We are gathered here to get through this thing called a Naruto story.**

 **And on that, if you'll allow me to indulge myself, for but a moment.**

 **Ahem.**

 **FUCK! KISHIMOTO!**

 **Do you have any goddamn idea how hard it was to piece together a goddamn semi-coherent timeline of events? Do you? Pretty fucking hard. Kishi's such a goddamn grand world builder, but holy shit can he be incompetent as a writer. I worked for hours- fucking. Hours. To try and figure out the timeline prior to the Third World War. Do you- do you know how hard that was? It sounds easy as shit- BUT OH BOY. He managed to make it nearly impossible to piece everything together. He fucked up doing nothing. That's all he had to do. Make the events prior to the canon as vague as possible, so that we could fill it in. But he still fucked that up somehow! He managed to give _just enough_ details that things have to happen a specific amount of time away from each other. Like- like, for instance, our dear, dear Sannin. The Sannin had to have been born before Hashirama and Madara died, correct? We have canon confirmation that Tsunade knew Hashirama, at least from the age of a toddler. BUT! At what point does Madara leave the village? How old were the founders when the Village was started? When the fuck does Hashirama die- WHEN THE FUCK IS THE FIRST WORLD WAR? Because Hashirama has to die between Madara leaving the village and the First World War and Jesus Christ, Tobirama has to be Hokage long enough to put all the shit that he did into play (the academy, the police, etc). It wouldn't be hard, but I tried. I tried so hard to keep things as canon as possible, tried my damnedest not to make shit up to fill it in. But Jesus. It's sucked. And I haven't even finished! Because I'm stuck with a Sannin until the end of the series or he dies, I have to find out the amount of time between each major event in the series and I just- I just- Don't even get me started on Jiraiya and his multitude of students, or Minato! Minato exists in his own goddamn timeline, I swear.**

 **Gah.**

 **Okay. Rant done. Carry on.**

 **-Infernokota**


	2. Azuki: What Are the Odds

**Chapter 2:** **Tough to be a God**

* * *

Kogira hummed to herself and deftly spun around the thrown kunai, loose blue sleeves trailing behind her.

"Stop dodging!"

The genin grinned to herself and stopped, leaning down to Azuki's height. "What are you going to do about it?"

Azuki put up a sign. "Clone Jutsu!" Another Azuki appeared in a puff of smoke.

The elder Uchiha didn't bother stifling her laugh. "Z, that's not what clones do! You're thinking 'Shadow Clone Jutsu!'"

"So?" The black and white haired twins said in unison, giving their sister a withering glare.

Kogira snorted with a smile, leaning back lazily. "Okay. Hit me."

That was all the twin seven year-olds needed and they dashed at her. The real Azuki went high, while the clone went low, going for a sweep of the legs. Kogira frowned as she prepared to ignore the fake Uchiha and throw the real one. The child, even if he was only still in the Academy, knew that a clone wouldn't actually be able to harm her, so a head on assault was not only stupid, it was academic- which meant that he was doing something tricky. The elder sibling's black eyes widened and she adjusted in mid-air, having jumped, ignoring the airborne Azuki and flipping out of the way of the lower one.

Her assumption paid off, the high Uchiha disappearing in a cloud of smoke while the lower copy simply ate dirt, sliding forwards. Kogira laughed as she backed out of the child's range. "Okay, okay, that was pretty good."

Azuki simply glared up at her, irritated that she'd seen through his ploy. "How did you-"

"Because you're _seven_ ," She said surely, sitting down cross-legged in front of him. "I don't care how smart you are. You're still just a child," Her expression soured. " _A child that shouldn't know how to do a clone already_. You've still got, what, two years? Three, until the graduation exam? There's really no need to know how to do that already."

"Grandfather taught me."

"Of course he did."

Azuki sat up from his position in the dirt, sitting down in a mirror image of his sister. "Grandfather says that I should be prepared to graduate early. He says that I would already be preparing to fight back in his day."

"Oh, Z. Grandfather grew up in endless war, of course he'd already probably killed his first person."

"We're not at endless war?"

Kogira groaned and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Brother, you need to spend less time around Grandpa Madara. He means well, but..."

Azuki cocked his head to the side. "But what?"

"He's not... Grandfather's a very hard man. And he does a lot of stuff for the good of the clan, but not for the good of the village, y'know?"

"I... don't."

"Okay, Madara's up here," She held a hand up above her head. "Lord Hokage's down here," She held her other hand lower, a few inches above the dirt. "Madara's ready for war. Lord Hokage doesn't want to go to war. That's... not a lot of common ground."

"Doesn't Grandfather play... shogi with Lord Hokage though?"

"Don't get me wrong, they're friends. But they don't see eye to eye, and... that makes Grandpa a lot of enemies. Just... He's not always super knowledgeable about everything, okay? He tries really hard, and I love him for it, but his world view's really messed up."

Azuki frowned. "But wouldn't he know more than we do? He's a lot older."

"Age doesn't always equal wisdom, Z. But it does equal power, so get up, we're not done training yet. Gotta keep you ahead of the curve."

The siblings rose, but Azuki had one more question, still frowning thoughtfully. "What do you mean they don't see eye to eye?"

* * *

"This is unacceptable!" Madara roared, slamming a hand into the table, the shogi pieces jumping slightly.

Hashirama frowned and moved the pieces back into their places. "I never said it wasn't-"

"And yet you do nothing to stop it?! You're the Hokage, you have martial power, if you-"

"Having martial power does not mean I can freely exercise it!" Hashirama finally yelled back, patience wearing thin.

"Oh, does it not?! Than does your little 'village council' have the power instead?"

"The Village Council is not only an important part of the village hierarchy, but it's also a necessary part! And no! They do not hold more power than me!"

Madara leaned back, sneering. His voice had reached its lowest pitch, an almost warning for the Hokage that the Uchiha Clan head was at his limit. "Then if you care so much for our plight, and the Council has less power than you, why do the Uchiha suffer such- such _embarrassment,_ such _admonishment,_ time after time?"

"Do you have any idea the scope of what the Council intends? I have to find a compromise, Madara! As much as I want to help you, I have to also help them! You have no idea the things I have shut down in your favor- if I wish to avoid the civilians doing something drastic, I need to give them a something. DO YOU- do you know how many times I have outright stopped them from attempting to have the Uchiha excommunicated? More than zero! Which is a perfect indicator of how they feel of you. Many of them are old enough to remember before the village was started, and they remember what the Uchiha _would_ and _could_ do. It doesn't help that you keep to yourselves in your compound!"

"What do you want from us, Senju?" Hashirama winced slightly at the use of his surname. "They treat us like war machines, as if we're animals on the verge of lashing out and tearing their throats out. My people are not welcome by the civilians, why should they force themselves where they're not wanted, hm? Your peace has only brought discrimination."

"And your peace will bring war!" Hashirama shot back. "You believe that might is the only answer; it's not. Peace exists through cooperation, through understanding- not war! Not subjugation. That's not peace, friend. That's a lie. Peace is not- not seeking out Iwa shinobi and attacking them so they'll bow to us. What- what part of peace is that? It's just a lie."

Madara leaned forwards, over the forgotten shogi board. "That peace is _absolute_ , Hashirama. That peace is eternal. We are shinobi! What happens when another village decides that they no longer benefit from your alliance, hm? The only target will be you. Will be us. Subjugation may not be the perfect answer, but it's the best one! If you continue to act as if no one else in the world has fangs, you will one day have your throat ripped out. The Uchiha have already felt that."

Hashirama sighed, rubbing his temples. "Madara, I know that things are not always alright. I know that, but it isn't as simple as-"

"What happened to Hashirama Senju of the Forest? The man who exerted his force on every clan in the Land of Fire, bringing them under one banner, hm? What happened to him?"

"I'm not just leading the Senju anymore, old friend! I have the interest of every clan in the village- the Hyuuga, the Ino-Shika-Cho, the Inuzuka, the Aburame, the Sarutobi, _the Uchiha_ \- and the civilians. To rule over them as a dictator is not only the opposite I- _We!-_ had promised them, it's the opposite of _our_ vision for the Hidden Leaf. Remember? We wanted an end to the endless bloodshed, we wanted peace in our Land. Wasn't that our dream?"

Madara growled and rose to his feet. "I can't even see the dream anymore."

* * *

Azuki sighed and leaned back against the tree, sitting comfortably in his perch on one of the lower branches. He had to admit... he was bored. Kogira had left the village, on a C Rank mission to Takigakure, the smaller village in the Land of Fire, to deliver medicine. That had her leaving the village for at least a week, leaving Azuki alone to stew on his thoughts.

"Azuki?"

The child blinked at the unfamiliar voice, and looked down, where a clansman was staring up at him curiously. "Yes?"

"...What are you doing up there?"

Azuki frowned. "Sitting? Do you... want something?"

The teenager shrugged and began walking up the tree, making the child's eyes widen in shock. The clansman walked over and sat a few feet from the child. "Not really. I'm a friend of your sister. She talks about you all the time, so, figured I'd meet you finally."

"Oh."

"Still thinking about the walking on the tree?"

"Yes."

The teen smiled. "You'll get it once they put you in a genin team. How old are you?"

"...Seven. Um, what's your name?"

"Oh! I'm sorry, I'm Ashi. Are you taking the academy this week?"

Azuki's face flushed. "...No."

"It's okay. I didn't take it until I was... jeez, eight? Nine? Somewhere around there. If you're as... talented as Kogi says you are, then seven's a pretty close number to when you do. I'd think, anyway. I'm not... a teacher or anything. Anyway, what brings you here?"

Azuki stared at the older Uchiha for a few moments before shaking his head. "This is my house."

Ashi rolled his eyes. "Well, duh. I mean, what brings you up _here_ ," He shook the tree branch for emphasis. "Into the tree?"

"I was... I find it relaxing."

"You were bored, weren't you?"

"Yes."

"Wanna go walk around?"

"Yes please."

Ashi laughed and hopped down. "Alright then. Come on down."

The genin was dressed in FJDKLS:

After a moment of hesitation, Azuki followed the teen forwards, winding their way through the Uchiha Clan Compound.

Hands behind his head, Ashi turned slightly over his shoulder. "So what are you doing in training?"

"The fireball technique." Azuki said quietly.

Ashi frowned. "Fireball, or Great Fireball?"

"...Great Fireball."

"Okay, that sounds a lot more like Madara."

The younger Uchiha frowned. "What do you know about Grandfather?"

"Only what my mom tells me; he's stern, he's calci... calcitrant, he's kind of angry, and he's got a lot of issues."

"Does... everyone think that?"

"Well, no. Even my mom admits that he's a fantastic shinobi and leader, and is just too prideful to compromise. There's a few, though, that think Madara's the greatest gift to mankind since chakra."

"What do you think?"

"Kid, I hate politics. I don't really care. I love my clan, and I love my village. As long as I can serve both, then I don't really care."

"But what if he does something that makes it to where you can't?"

"Well... we'll cross that bridge when we get to it, yeah? It's never that cut-and-dry, context is important. Remember that," Azuki didn't answer, getting Ashi to turn to him again. "Hey, kid... what did you mean, something that may make it to where I can't?"

"I..."

"Does... Lord Madara talk to you about this stuff?" Ashi said hesitantly, a note of panic creeping into his voice. If Azuki relayed what people said to his Grandfather... the old warrior wouldn't kill his family, or even exile them just for doubting, but it would make him an enemy; and Madara is not a man that you want as an enemy.

"...Well... not to me. Exactly."

"...What do you mean, not exactly?"

* * *

"God, Azuki, we're going to get killed!"

"Stop being a baby."

"Baby? Baby?! You're the one who dragged me here!"

Azuki turned a flat, onyx gaze to Ashi. "You're a four year older genin. I couldn't make you come if I tried."

"I didn't know we were coming here!" The shinobi hissed back.

"Stop raising your voice, if you're so concerned that we'll get caught. I thought you said you wanted to learn where I got my... my..."

"Information, you little devil, and yeah. I did. I didn't expect to be _here."_

 _Here_ went very quiet, a dark room lit up both through the dying light shining through the windows, and the lights hanging above the clan members' heads.

The room was filled with three tables; two vertical facing towards the door, and the other horizontal on the other side of the room. One man sat at the latter, while the other two tables were filled with at least a dozen people.

Madara Uchiha leaned back in his chair, coolly looking on at the assorted council of Uchiha clan members; picked for their skill, prowess- whether in strategy, battle, or civil matters- and their intelligence.

The idea was, Madara was to have two advisors with him, not unlike the Hokage himself; both men eschewed the ancient tradition, preferring to make decisions on their own. Madara, on a lesser scale, was simply in charge of the clan; singling out which missions to accept, who should partake in them, accepting or declining goods from merchants, making plans on what construction to do in the compound, barter with the Hokage, the council, other clans, and so on and so forth.

Lately though; Madara did very little of that.

"Is this another coup conversation, my lord?" One clan member asked, carefully hiding his disdain.

Madara let out a breath through his nose. "It is not a coup conversation-"

"With all due respect, Madara; what else would you call these?"

"I am attempting to save our clan, boy," The legendary warrior's voice was rising in irritation already. "What have we been given for our efforts towards this village? Hm? What rewards, what recognition have we been given?"

"Everything!" One man yelled, shooting to his feet. "We have a home, we have missions, we have a steady stream of income, goods, supplies, food- what more could we want?"

"Our damn pride! You are all old enough to remember the time before this village? Remember our fame? Our infamy, the fear and respect our enemies had for us-"

"And our children were dying by the dozens, _we_ were dying by the dozens! Our situation is not perfect, but dammit, it's better! It's everything you and Hashirama wished for. We have been stubbed. We have been forgotten, and mistreated- but by God, we have safety. Our children no longer have to fight in the fields, they no longer have to learn to wield a sword before they gain their Sharingan- my boy is learning to be a medic, my lord. What more could we ask for than peace of mind?"

Madara stared out over his clansmen, black eyes filled with dissatisfaction. "...Have you lost your spines? Have you forgotten your pride? The very pride that makes the Uchiha clan who we are! You kneel, and bow, and prostrate yourself when you should scream, and fight, and demand! Demand! The spoils of which we've been promised. Can you not see? This village, that council, it stifles us, it parades itself around as the savior of the Leaf, but that is us! Our village was built around the Naka Shrine for a reason; because it would be nothing without us!"

"I'm sorry, Madara, but we've said it before. And we'll say it again. We will not support you in a coup. We respect you and your wisdom, but this is no longer the era of the Warring States. We march towards peace, and peace is what we want. I'm sorry. We don't support this action. Is there anything else you wanted of us?"

"No."

The single, loathe-filled word sent chills down the clansmen's backs. As nearly one, they rose from their chairs and bowed to their clan head, before turning to file out of the meeting hall. Madara watched them go for a minute, the great doors swinging shut behind the last man, before bowing his head, catching his face in his hands.

"You can come out now." He said tiredly.

Ashi and Azuki's eyes both widened in surprise, sharing a quick look.

"I know you're there, both of you."

Azuki then, without hesitation, dropped from his hiding place, landing on the floor with a whump. After a moment, Ashi followed, more gracefully. The two young Uchiha stared at their clan head, the former openly, the latter, his head bowed, staring out through his eyebrows.

"You may go." Madara said, waving Ashi off. The genin bowed lowly and turned on his heel, hurrying out of the meeting hall. The two last Uchiha watched him go, before the door closed, then turned back to each other silently.

The silence stretched on for several minutes, before Madara finally brought dull eyes up to his grandson. "Did I ever tell you how Hashirama and I met?"

"No, Grandfather."

"We were boys, long before this village was even an idea, long before your parents were born. He stumbled across me, as I skipped rocks across a pond. Neither of us knew the other's true identity, but we befriended each other anyways. Long after that, when we were men, leading our clans, we became bitter enemies. His brother, Tobirama, killed my brother, as my clan had killed their's. In one final battle, he refused to kill me, and wished to make amends. I told him the only way to do so... would be to either kill his brother, or kill me. Instead... he chose to kill himself. After I saw his conviction for peace, I began listening to his dreams again. We became rivals once again, and this village was born. I was to be the First Hokage, you know. Instead, Tobirama, with the support of the council, refused to allow an Uchiha to claim the high chair. And since... I can't help but feel it was all for naught."

"Grandfather?"

"Perhaps when you're older, you'll understand. A man has to do what a man must do, whatever the consequences."

"Grandfather, I don't understand what you're saying."

"You don't, I understand. You will, one day."

"Grandfather?"

"Run home, little one. I will be there shortly."

Azuki sent his grandfather one last, long look, before bowing, and then turned and left.

Madara didn't move once as he watched his grandson go.

* * *

The Uchiha Clan head stared forwards in determination, buckling red armor tightly into place, his war fan and scythe attached to his back, black hair hanging down his back. He took a deep breath in, then let it out, turning to leave his chambers, moving with determined steps towards the opposite side of the mansion. He stopped before the door and idled for a few moments, before sliding it open, stepping in. Laying on his futon against the far wall, Azuki was little more than a blanketed lump, black-and-white hair blending in and contrasting against the darkness.

Madara stepped over to him, standing over his grandson quietly, mouth closed in a thin line. Reaching behind him, he pulled out the handwritten letter sealed shut with the Uchiha clan symbol pressed into red wax, and placed it on the boy's bedside table. His gloved hand reached up tentatively, and brushed a lock of the boy's white hair out of his face, before leaning down and placing a ghost of a kiss on his temple.

"I'm sorry. You'll understand." He whispered, before turning on his heel to leave.

Hisshadow clone burst, sending its memories back to him.

Ah.

Hashirama accepted.

* * *

The skies were clouded over grey. Though rain had yet to fall, the threat of it hung over the area. Their battleground was in the mountains, far to the north of the Hidden Leaf Village.

Hashirama stared at his old friend, clad in the Senjus' red armor. Madara stared down, clad in his own Uchiha red armor.

And beneath Madara's feet was the Nine Tailed Fox. The enormous Tailed Beast snarled and growled, but didn't move, turning its hateful red eyes onto Hashirama- red eyes filled with the Sharingan, the Hokage didn't fail to notice.

"Come then, Hashirama!" Madara roared, grin wide on his face from battle lust. "Show me your power!"

The two old friends dashed at one another.


End file.
